Wednesday, July 24, 2013

There's a big ole moon out there tonight and it's hot, but not too hot, no humidity.

It's the kind of night that makes you wish you had a dog so you could take a walk in the moonlight.

But I don't, so I won't.

I've turned off the air in the living room and have the windows open and I can hear the cicadas and the traffic and hopefully I'll hear Gus soon because it's almost bedtime.

I spent an hour tonight weeding a little patch of earth that holds nothing more than 3 wooly thymes, one mystery portulaca, the mystery being will it bloom or won't it, a pot of purple Hyacinth beans, and three pieces of flagstone. It was the Lab's spot to greet Beau, the dog next door, at the fence. This is where they hung out and gossiped.

There were many weeds embedded in the thyme. I painstakingly pulled them out, gave it all a good drink of water and a coating of fresh mulch.

I ignored the big bed with all the weeds hidden behind the black eyes susans and just focused on the spot in front of me.

It was a Zen as I get.

Tomorrow I"ll take a picture and post this. ( I just took this picture and I already see a few weeds, aaargh)

We'll all mark the date and then see how long it takes it to turn into tanglewood again.

I give it a week,

I loved all your flowers. I appreciate that it takes time and energy to link up but so many people come by to see our flowers, some leave comments, others just look, and then go to your house to look some more: the rewards seems far greater that the energy spent.

See the potting table you bought off Craigs List sitting in the back yard. All three of you are surprised. You because you forgot, it all happened quickly and after work, the cats because they hadn't seen it till now.

You walk down the stairs, the cats leap from deck onto potting table and begin sniffing. The woman who made it has dogs.

What a morning. Rain and cloudy skies in the forecast. Forecast be damned, full sun.

Walk around the garden and decide on a green and white theme for FITH. Hope to project a cooling feeling. Already covered in sweat.

Pick, strip, plunge into pitcher of water, flowers I mean, spray on bug repellent, ice more espresso and get to work in the garden.

3:00pm: Decide to use green vases to follow theme. Go up in attic to unearth some. Negate shower.
Make mess in kitchen arranging flowers in vases. Make and ice more espresso. Sweep.
4:30pm: Move vases and shells around, take pictures in a hurry. Friend in from out of town and bringing over her 6 year old son to visit.

6:00pm: go out for fish tacos and limeades.
7:00pm:come home and find yourself playing a hot and sweaty game of soccer with 6 year old.
Score a trillion points. A TRILLION I tell you.
He's a generous goalie.

8:00pm, back on the sparkling water and the computer.

9:00pm, post written.

Gardenias in kitchen window.

Washing dishes no longer a chore.

Dining room green vase full of the first of the limelight hydrangeas, mandevilla vine, oregano, lisianthus, coneflower,lemon verbena,and baptisia greens.

Living room, another green vase full of scents. Rose geranium, pineapple mint, verbena, oregano, abelia, painted fern and more mandevilla.

Delicious.

And on a shelf, a little vase filled with the leftovers, a bit of bush ivy, herbs and a sprig of acorns.

I love FITH, I would never have so many flowers unless I was having people over.

And I am aren't I?

Now, off to your house. I'll stop by Starbucks on the way. Latte anyone?

Monday, July 15, 2013

I think I am always the last person in my hood to turn on the airconditioning.

Maybe the last person in the county.

Yesterday's 89 degree temps didn't phase me, I even got one big bed weeded. And this included going over to my neighbor's yard and pulling miles of bindweed off her fence and my plants.

Who knew that was a yew?

But today I have surrendered and after returning home from Physical Therapy at 10:30 I caved.

The house is now filled with the sound of window units humming.

The roommate is asleep in his cool, dark cave after another midnight shift, the cats are outside trying to get water from the hose and I'm gulping down sparkling water and lemon syrup.

All plans for my day off are put aside and I'm planning on a day of, I don't know, maybe relaxation?

I miss the sounds of the birds though, and I have to keep an eye on those cats so I dash out for a moment or two of the garden.

The plants are loving the heat..

Everything's coming up rudbeckia in my yard.

Correction: after 4 hours sleep Superman just left to go play soccer.,

Geez, nobody has ever made me feel lazy before.

And yes, since you asked, he's still cooking and on Saturday he spent to hours cleaning and beautifully arranging my basement (which he calls the closet), dug out the rest of the fig tree's roots and made plans to start revamping the drainage system in the always flooding back yard.

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Neither heat, humidity or swarms of mosquitoes can keep me away from a story.

You want follow up on the reuse of the pallets into a raised bed?

I got it.

It
took several days of walking to work and either forgetting my camera or
hiding under an umbrella and gazing forlornly at this cool structure
before I finally got a break at work and a break in the rain and ran
down the street to point and shoot.

Initially the driveway was filled with pallets and the (this part is important) young man who has a girlfriend was taking them apart board by board, to create a 15ft. raised bed. This is all that is left

And this is his creation.

Posts sunk into the ground are strung with heavy picture wire attached with eye hooks, providing a background for the many vines to climb.

His tomatoes and eggplant are heavy with fruit, his melons covered with blossoms.

He is the plant whisperer.

I have a fungal infection, well my Sungold does and my zucchini bears flowers but no fruit.
I feel like Eve, after the apple.

I shall have to keep a close eye on his crops.
But if there were to be any "foraging" you wouldn't read about it here.

Monday, July 8, 2013

The new roommate officially arrived today. After hours at the airport, first in Seattle, finally getting to but not out of, North Carolina, he gave up on flying, rented a car, arrived at the Pentagon at 4:30am, worked what was left of his shift, ran some errands, returned the rental car, unpacked, took a 4 hour nap and was waiting for me when I came home to ask what I wanted for dinner.

I'm rooming with Superman!

And Superman, Lt. Colonel Superman to you, made chicken breasts, with rice and a light mushroom sauce.

Gus still isn't sold on him but Lucy and I think he rocks.

Update: Gus is now hanging in his room with him going through all of his stuff. He just attempted to make away with some special earbuds, but was found out and had to give them back.

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

I was walking to work yesterday when I saw a man taking apart a stack of pallets in his driveway.

Doing anything cool with those I asked?

Yes he said, I'm building a 15foot raised bed on the side of my house.

He was surrounded by plants in pots just waiting for their new resting place.

There
were heirloom tomatoes, lemon cucumbers, Malabar spinach and pots and
pots of I don't remember. He said he had put the collection together plant by plant, with great love and a true sense of garden adventure I thought

We checked out the construction site. Nice. He should be blogging, maybe he is, I didn't ask.

But as I walked on, now late for work, I realized this is what I miss about not being in a relationship.

The planning and plotting and finally the realization of a dream, be it a new bed in the garden or a party on the 4th of July.

So
I imagined writing an ad for a mate to include: Must love gardening,
cats and dogs, cooking and eating, feeding others, working out, working
in, reading, dancing, laughing, crying, politics, flowers in the house
and my friends and neighbors of course.

Luckily I'm enjoying a relationship with myself just now and I fit the bill perfectly.

Still it would be nice to have someone else clean the kitty litter every now and again.

Follow By Email

Follow this blog with bloglovin

Instagram

Twitter

It's spring and I'm living solo is a small but charming house with two kittens always ready for their closeups.
I spend all my spare time in the garden weeding and seeding.
I'm restructuring my life and learning to love it.